Create a Plan

If you are hosting or speaking at a networking event, always start off with a plan of action. If you are the host, then have everything in place before the event starts. Come at least one hour early to verify that the room is set up properly, you have enough places for the attendees to sit, and (if applicable) verify that food or catering has arrived.

Speakers and/or host should also find a spot where they can set up both the screen and the rental projector. The projector should be back far enough that the reflected image is large, and it should be positioned in a place where projector is not blocking anyone’s view. Position the chairs so that everyone can comfortably see the screen and not hinder anyone else’s view.

Advantages of Using a Projector

For a presenter, there’s no better way to engage your audience than with visuals. Studies have proven over and over again that people learn and absorb more information best when they are shown this information visually. Plus, when you are competing with other distractions, images can help keep your audience fixated on you.

Visual aids are also not only for the audience. Every public speaker has sometimes forgotten where they are in speech or what comes next. You may be doing the speech without any notes, or your cue cards may have gotten mixed up. A PowerPoint presentation projected right behind you will remind you where you are and will keep you from enduring any long, embarrassing pauses.

/>Events Without Speakers

Many events don’t have a speaker and are merely meet and greets types of networking events. In that case, you can use a rental projector to display photographs from past events, which are always a crowd-pleaser, or display the dates and times of upcoming activities. If your networking event has a theme, you can run related film clips or similar snippets on the screen throughout the night. Whatever the theme of your networking event, a projector will add both quality and perhaps a sense of fun to the night’s activities.

Cost-Effective Solution

Rental projectors are very inexpensive ways to spice up your networking event. Speakers will love the extra attention focused on them, and attendees will enjoy the variety of images on the screen.

Projector123.com makes it easy and affordable to rent a quality projector. Click here now to learn more.

Here is an excellent article we recently discovered – it will help you make the most of your trade show experience. The original article is available here. Enjoy!

The Morning After The Day Before

Trade show success depends on well-planned and timely follow-up on leads your company generates at a show. By the time the event is over, company staff are exhausted and grateful they survived. While it’s tempting to take a week’s vacation to recuperate, or return to the office and idly browse through 500 email messages, your trade show performance isn’t yet finished. So brush the cobwebs off your desk and get serious about your trade show follow-up. Email and other distractions can wait.

Begin by organizing your trade show leads. Ideally, lead organization is completed while at the show, whereby lead contact information is entered in a contact management system or spreadsheet. Organize your leads in terms of product or service category, and/or by “temperature”: hot, warm and cool, depending on the degree of rapport you established at the show.

It’s imperative to have a creative and thoughtful marketing communications follow-up plan. Direct mail, phone calls with sample scripts, face-to-face meetings, product demonstrations, email messages, or e-newsletters are all effective communication methods. Whatever methods you choose, be certain to include your targeted message, company branding, contact information, and your call to action. Also give some thought to special pricing or value-added offers to encourage your prospects to take action.

For direct mail, refrain from sending duplicates of the literature you’ve already provided at the show. Instead, send your prospects a new, more robust information package, or piece such as a direct mail postcard, with additional information and selling points that appeal to your prospects’ needs. A package can include your business card, some company literature, ways your company can help the potential client, and samples or price lists that may quicken the sales cycle. Personalize the package whenever possible. Handwritten notes are excellent and always well-received.

Consider a customized e-newsletter. Based upon your lead list of current clients, prospects, and potential partners, you can create more than one e-newsletter template. This newsletter can be similar to your direct mail content, as well as including links to useful content on your website. An added benefit is that your prospects will be more receptive to phone calls after receiving and reading your e-newsletter.

Phone calls are perhaps the most powerful trade show marketing follow-up tool. Place your initial follow-up call no later than 48 hours after the trade show, then call again in a couple of weeks, and again after a month, to continue developing rapport with your leads. Keep in mind that hot leads might buy within 30 days, while warm leads take longer. Make your sales reps accountable for these prospects, and monitor their progress for at least 6 months. Persistence pays off when it is properly executed.

Did you remember to record some brief notes about each lead you spoke with at the show? These notes are very valuable – they spark your memory, allow you to personalize your follow-up strategies, and show your prospects that you were listening carefully to their needs. For instance, some leads wish to be contacted in a particular manner, or request specific information from you. Potential clients will be pleased to see that you mailed them a catalogue, or contacted them only by phone, as per their explicit instructions. Listening carefully to your qualified leads will help turn prospects into customers.

Time is of the essence. Don’t let a hot lead grow cold because too much time has passed. The longer you wait, the less likely you will be remembered, and your competition will beat you to the punch. Upon their return to the office, your sales staff should ignore emails and other distractions, and instead focus solely on implementing your trade show follow-up plan. Not next week, or next month, but the next day. Evaluate the success of your targeted follow-up plan by tracking the number of sales generated over a fixed length of time.

You will have to juggle volumes of contact information. Prospects must be efficiently sorted. And leads must be pursued swiftly and with perseverance. But by taking action the morning after the day before, you can greatly increase your company’s customer base and justify your trade show investment.

Want a more profitable trade show?

Take the first step to dramatically improved trade show results. Request a Trade Show Tune Up today.

Early Does It

The earlier you begin planning your event, the easier your task will be. This includes early ordering of supplies, materials and equipment. The “save the date” card is absolutely essential in helping potential attendees to make travel arrangements, clear their calendar, secure approvals and funding from their company (if applicable) and help spread the word.

Swipe the Best Ideas

What have you seen or experienced at another conference or convention that impressed you most or caught (and held) your attention? Poll your committee with the same question, and swipe the best ideas to implement into your event.

Your Booth

When designing your own booth, be sure to create an open, inviting atmosphere. Keep clutter to a minimum and make use of clean lines and a streamlined presentation.  Pictures and graphics should be vibrant, relevant, and eye-catching. If your budget has room, use a carpet underlay – not only does it warm the space visually and provide additional sound buffer within a noisy vendor area, but it also works wonders for your feet since you’ll be standing all day long.

Staff Training

Prepare in advance, to ensure that your committee members and staff understand their role, know how to communicate with each other during the event itself, and have a clear plan for the speedy resolution of any issues that may arise. Test all videos, equipment, etc. to ensure full functionality and compatibility, and to ensure that the responsible parties know how to operate equipment and audiovisuals.

Branding and Identity

Your staff should have a coordinating and cohesive appearance – that might include custom golf shirts or button-down shirts and a uniform color (e.g., black pants and black shoes). Maintain the event’s branding by using the logo or graphics wherever possible.

Remember – for easy, convenient, affordable, hassle-free rental projectors, your go-to vendor is Projector123.com. Click here now to learn more and reserve your rental projectors today.

1. Make Some Notes

Now that your convention has ended, you can relax, right? Well, not exactly. The smarter approach would be to make some notes to assist you (or the next lucky individual who will take this responsibility over from you) in planning your next convention. Make notes about what worked, what didn’t work, things you liked and didn’t like about the venue, and what recommendations you have for improving next year’s event. Have a debriefing meeting with your committee members – they will have additional input for you, as well as from conversations they had in the field during the event.

2. Analyze the Data

Review, summarize and analyze the responses from your participant surveys. Pay attention to what worked, what wasn’t as well received, and what suggestions were made by participants for improving the process and experience. Include this information with your notes from the previous step. Additionally, review your budget – did you meet it? What funds were spent that could be avoided or omitted going forward? Where would funds have been better spent (for example, your participant surveys may show that additional signage was needed to avoid confusion and manage traffic flow – knowing this, you can add funds to next year’s signage budget).

3. Data Entry (if applicable)

Hopefully, you were able to collect participant information electronically, which eliminates the need for data entry. If not, it pays to get forms entered sooner rather than later after your event – this way, you are building your contact list for next event’s “save the date” mailing.

4. Say “Thank You”

After your event, send out your thank you notes or letters to those who assisted in some key way. This would include committee members, volunteers, staff, sponsors, speakers, vendors who donated funds or items (flowers, decorations, beverages, publicity, etc.) to the event. Never underestimate the power of a thank you – when you take the time to express sincere gratitude, these same individuals and vendors will be even more receptive when you approach them for assistance next year.

5. Make Decisions for Next Time

You can begin making some key decisions about the next event (venue, location, speakers, even the date and duration) based on the feedback received and the overall experience of this event.

After your event has ended, it’s easy to return the rental projectors to Projector123.com. Simply place it back into the padded shipping carton (which doubles as a carrying case), affix the prepaid FedEx postage label, and drop into the nearest FedEx drop box, or call FedEx for convenient pickup. Click here now to learn more.

1. Stay Hydrated

It may sound like a simple thing, but conventions require long hours and lot of time on the go – make sure you and your staff stay hydrated and fed, so that you have the energy and stamina to keep going all day (and then wake up to do it all again tomorrow). Make sure your staff gets breaks to eat, sit down, and leisurely browse through the vendor areas.

2. Communicate

You can’t put out all the fires and handle everything on your own. Stay in constant communication with your staff, solicit help, make sure everyone is on task and ask for assistance as the need arises. The stronger your communication skills during your event, the smoother the outcome.

3.  Collect Information

In addition to registrations, you’ll want to collect suggestions for improvement, contact information for representatives who may wish to sponsor or present at your next convention, and participant feedback surveys. This information is essential in helping you improve your event each time, so be sure to take time after the event to analyze the data. Don’t worry about reviewing feedback right now, it’s too late to make changes for the current event, and you’ve got far too many other details to worry about right now.

4. Put on Your Game Face

Smile, be cordial and welcoming, and remind your staff to do the same. When it comes to using your staff effectively, play to everyone’s strengths. Put your most outgoing, knowledgeable staff and committee members out on the floor to help direct traffic and answer questions. Friendly, organized folks would be ideal at the registration desk and check-in. Hard-working individuals who are more on the shy side would best serve as runners and back-of-the-house personnel.

Have you reserved your rental projector yet? Audiovisuals are essential for any successful professional gathering, and whether you need a rental projector for the main stage or breakout sessions, trust Projector123.com to deliver what you need, when and where you need it. Click here now to reserve a PowerPoint rental projector.

Before the Meeting

1. Size matters

Depending on the nature of your convention, you may or may not be able to fully control the size of your convention. However, it will be essential to estimate some numbers, as you will need to book arrangements based on estimated attendance.

2. Book the venue

This may be the single most important decision you make regarding the planning of your convention. Choose a location that suits your estimated group size, with clean, well-appointed facilities, and the ability to provide food service to your group in a fresh and timely manner. Consider whether or not your participants will want to come early or stay late, which may mean you’ll want to assess nearby attractions.

3. Plan it in writing

With so much to do and so many details to manage, it’s far too easy for important steps to fall through the cracks. Plan your work and work your plan. This will also help you keep track of delegating and maintain timely follow ups.

4. Create a budget

This step will need to be completed rather early, in order to ascertain sponsorship needs and set a ticket price for attendees.

5. Save the Date

Once the venue is booked, it’s never too early to encourage potential attendees to save the date – even if it’s a year in advance.

6. Create a committee

Nobody said you had to plan the entire convention on your own, did they? Enlist help, create a committee, and surround yourself with helpful, hardworking, committed enthusiasts. Plus, it pays to run key ideas across a small focus group, to avoid any major oversights.

7. Book your audiovisuals early

Audiovisual support is one of those things that most people won’t notice unless it’s missing or malfunctioning. Effective audiovisual support should be seamlessly integrated with the main stage.

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Why not rent a DVD projector for a couple of days? The cost is more affordable than you might think, and just take a look at all the ways you could use a rental projector for a summer camp or kids’ activity program:

1. Host a film festival featuring family favorites such as “The Goonies,” “Escape from Witch Mountain” or “Bedtime Stories.” Or you can rent new releases from Netflix – either way, with the cost of the projector and the movie rental, it’s still far less expensive than taking a big group of kids to the movie theater.

2. Teach the children how to use digital cameras, allow them to explore, and showcase a slide show of their best shots at the end of the day.

3. Create a gaming tournament – an LCD projector can easily hook up to your Wii, XBOX 360, or other gaming system.

4. Let the kids create skits, make props and act them out, then film them and display the video with the projector. Or have the counselors act them out and let the kids film. Or use a game show theme. Whichever way you choose, it’s sure to be hilarious!

5. Film a field trip, excursion or outdoor field day and project the video on the next day.

Plus, with a rental from Projector123.com, you’re not limited to just one of these activities – a one-day rental actually lasts for two days, so you can choose multiple activities from this list, or invent your own!  And Projector123.com will ship your rental projector to any location you specify, so there’s no worries about inconvenient pick up or drop off – we take the hassle out of renting a projector.

Click here to reserve an LCD projector rental from Projector123.com today.

1. Start planning early.

Haven’t we all been to an annual banquet that was so haphazard, it looked as though it had been thrown together at the last minute? The earlier you begin planning an event like this, the greater your chances of total success. Remember, it takes time to have awards engraved, to order items of recognition, to arrange for presenters and to send out invitations. It pays to start planning early.

2. Don’t get too hung up on “how we usually do it”

With established clubs and organizations, it’s easy to fall into a rut — especially where the annual banquet is concerned. While you’re certainly want to maintain any long-standing traditions or important points held by the club, don’t feel as though you need to create a carbon copy of last year, where only the names have changed. Be creative and think outside the norm. Your guests will appreciate the variety.

3. Add some visual drama

The easiest way to incorporate this is with a rental projector and a digital slide show. You can include photos, video, graphics — whatever images would be most appreciated in keeping with the theme and purpose of the event. Additional visual drama can be incorporated with flowers for centerpieces, or fun favors for guests. Use your imagination — the possibilities are endless.

No matter what kind of slide show you’re planning, remember to rent your projector from Projector123.com. Click here to discover why Projector123 is the fast, easy, hassle-free choice for rental projectors and slide show presentation equipment.

This Easter, why not enhance your worship services with an affordable, easy to use LCD projector rental from Projector123.com? Take a look at some of the ideas you could incorporate to make this year’s spring time celebration even more special:

1 – Display beautiful, inspirational images throughout Easter service

2 – Project the Stations of the Cross during your Good Friday meditation service

3 – Share season-appropriate movies such as “In the Blink of an Eye,” “No Greater Love,” or “Jesus of Nazareth.”

4 – Create and display a slide show or photo montage to include members of the congregation, special events, etc.

With projector rentals starting at just $99 per weekend, Projector123.com is the affordable choice for religious professionals who are in search of exciting, captivating ways to expand the congregation and make more of an impact for special chuch services and celebrations.

This year, Easter falls on April 4, so there’s plenty of time to plan a spiritual celebration that’s truly worthy of a King. Plus, renting a projector from Projector123.com is as easy as 1-2-3. Just click here to get started, select your projector, let us know where and when to deliver it, and you’ll be on your way in no time. We can deliver directly to your church or place of worship, so there’s no need for heavy lugging. What’s more, setup is a snap with our quickstart guide, and if you require any additional support, you can call our customer service specialists for 24/7 assistance.

Click here to order your rental projector for Easter services today.

Dinner meetings are becoming increasingly popular in industries throughout the U.S.  Until recently, these intimate educational sessions were primarily used by pharmaceutical reps in search of uninterrupted time with busy physicians, but today, more and more executives are taking part in educational dinner meetings.

Typically an intimate gathering, a dinner meeting may include anywhere from half a dozen to twenty or so attendees. Because restaurants tend to be dimly lit, it pays to bring an LCD projector rental to ensure that all participants can see and hear the presentation clearly.

Projector123.com rents high-lumen LCD projectors for this very purpose. For as little as $99, you can reserve a professional quality projector rental and be up and running in no time. We’ll deliver to the exact location you specify (hotel, business, private address, restaurant, etc.) one day before your event to ensure that you have the equipment you need when you need it.

Each projector rental includes a quickstart setup guide, 24/7 technical assistance whenever you need it, and return shipping.

Whether you’re a drug rep presenting new drug statistics, or a marketing professional presenting sales data, a rental projector can assist you in using vivid images and demonstrative charts to clarify your points and help you get the sales.

Oh and one final yet important tip — remember to snack before you get there. You’ll be so busy networking before and during dinner (and addressing questions and comments after the meal) that you may not have time to eat! Additionally, even the finest restaurants are often willing to make you a to-go box when you include yourself in the final head count.

Bon appetit and happy presenting!

Order your rental projector today from Projector123.com — we’ll help you in selecting the most optimal unit for your location and group size. Click here to get started.